My top ten films for each year of the 2010s. These are always up for revision as I watch more films, revisit ones I’ve seen before, and think about them over time. The films as listed in the “This Year’s Favorites” section are held fast at the end of the year (and include a listing of all films I saw that year as well as films released that year).

Oh, and I don’t really believe in top “ten” lists, despite using the common nomenclature for the title of this page. This is going to be the top several films of each year, down to whatever point I think the films stop being worthy of inclusion. Might be eight one year, might be twenty-three another.

2013

1. Blancanieves
2. Gangster Squad

2012

1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2. Cloud Atlas
3. The Master
4. Django Unchained
5. Argo
6. The Avengers
7. Moonrise Kingdom
8. Wrong
9. Looper
10. The History of Future Folk
11. Anna Karenina
12. Les Miserables
13. Safety Not Guaranteed
14. In Another Country
15. Cabin in the Woods
16. Seven Psychopaths
17. Premium Rush
18. Frankenweenie
19. It’s a Disaster
20. Haywire
21. The Raid
22. Holy Motors
23. ParaNorman
24. Prometheus
25. Wreck-It Ralph
26. Skyfall
27. The Dark Knight Rises

TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
Rust and Bone
Lincoln
The Grey
Life of Pi
Damsels in Distress

2011

1. The Tree of Life
2. We Need to Talk About Kevin
3. Drive
4. The Story of Film: An Odyssey
5. The Innkeepers
6. Attack the Block
7. Hanna
8. Melancholia
9. The Artist
10. Winnie the Pooh
11. The Dynamiter
12. Café de Flore
13. Carnage
14. The Adventures of Tintin
15. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
16. Kill List
17. Jane Eyre
18. This is Not a Film
19. Extraterrestrial
20. Rango
21. Midnight in Paris
22. The Descendants

TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
A Separation
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The Skin I Live In
50/50
The Muppets

2010

1. The Social Network
2. Certified Copy
3. Blue Valentine
4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
5. The New Year
6. Attenberg
7. Black Swan
8. Inception
9. Meek’s Cutoff
10. The American
11. True Grit
12. Never Let Me Go
13. Julia’s Eyes
14. Shutter Island
15. Hahaha
16. The Illusionist
17. Rubber
18. Parade
19. Toy Story 3

TOP FIVE YET TO SEE
127 Hours
Another Year
Incendies
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Tabloid